“Christmas 4 Kids is about helping underprivileged children who might not have much of a Christmas if it weren’t for this organization,” Daniels said in a statement. “We’ll be having fun helping to put smiles on a lot of faces this Christmas. Thank you, Music City, for your support and to our artist friends who come out every year.”

Tickets to the show are $32.50-$60, available now at www.Christmas4kids.org with no additional service charges. Beginning Oct. 15, remaining tickets will be sold through Ticketmaster or the Ryman box office, where additional service fees may apply.

An early morning drizzle didn’t keep fans from lining up outside of Riverfront Park for opening day of CMA Music Festival.

The sun peeked its head out from the dark cloud cover to shine on downtown Nashville, which has been transformed into a downtown bazaar. Though the line was long, everyone seemed to be in good spirits as the gate finally opened a little after 9 a.m. and the festival grounds become scattered with fans in cowboy hats and boots. Some are just arriving, others have been waiting all night with little to no sleep.

Fans lined up for hours to secure a spot at the Riverfront Park Stage on Thursday. (photo: Jay Powell)

Following the singing of the national anthem by Rachel Holloway, country artist Sara Evans took the stage, the first of many that will grace the Riverfront Park stage over the next four days. Evans, a Booneville, Mo., native, kept the audience singing along, taking them back a few years with hits including “Perfect” and “Born To Fly.”

“It’s so nice to see you, Nashville,” Evans says. “I’m from Missouri, and Nashville has become my second home.”

The rain held off for the rest of the morning, leaving a nice calm, cool setting for outdoor music.

Riverfront Park security also stressed that no backpacks will be allowed inside of Riverfront Park during the festival.

A staple of CMA Music Festival weekend, the annual softball game puts country stars side-by-side with City of Hope patients in a fun game to raise money for City of Hope’s research, treatment and education programs. The Celebrity Softball Challenge has raised more than $2 million. City of Hope’s main hospital is located in Duarte, Calif., just northeast of Los Angeles, with clinics in Antelope Valley and South Pasadena.

It’s fun for everyone to be together away from the stage, McCreery said, especially for a good cause. The country artist is scheduled for this year’s game, which takes place at 9 a.m. Saturday at Greer Stadium.

“When we’re out there, we’ve all got big smiles on our faces,” McCreery said. “It means a lot to us as artists.”

A Nashville power player years in the making, with a bright future ahead: You could say that about the new Music City Center — the long-awaited $585 million convention center, opening next week — as well as the musical artists the city has tapped to perform at its two-day opening celebration on Sunday and Monday.

Here’s an overview of the vast array of Music City staples and burgeoning performers who will ring in the grand opening.

Sheryl Crow: Her catchy roots-rock sound has long tied her to the area (and she’s been a local resident for nearly a decade), but Crow’s musical roots have perhaps never been stronger in Nashville than they are right now. In February, the pop/rock star released a new single, “Easy,” set to be featured on a new album — her first for Warner Music Nashville. And Crow has been a frequent sight in Music City, whether running last year’s Country Music Marathon or recently enjoying another sold-out, three-night run at the Franklin Theatre. This summer, she’s hitting the road with a backing band stacked with accomplished local players.

Phil Vassar: An established country music hit maker, both in front of a microphone and behind the scenes, Vassar is a seasoned enough pro that he doesn’t mind hitting the stage without knowing what songs he and his band are going to perform. Actually, he prefers it that way.

Phil Vassar

“You pick the first song, go out there and start playing, and that’s it,” he says. “It’s a free-for-all after that.”

That’s the plan when Vassar and his band perform on the Music City Center’s plaza during its public previews and open house on Sunday. But fans can probably bet on hearing a few big hits — perhaps “In a Real Love” or “Just Another Day in Paradise” — and maybe a new tune or two, as Vassar is working on his first album in four years. He recently contributed a track to the new album “Everybody Has a Story,” a collection of songs written by patients at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Though he’s frequently on the road, it’s important for Vassar to stay active and visible at home, too.

“I love being an ambassador for our city, he says. “It’s my home, and my kids, we just love being a part of Nashville. Watching it come alive over the last 25 years has just been freaky cool.”

Fisk Jubliee Singers (photo: submitted)

The Fisk Jubilee Singers: Nearly a century before country put Music City on the map, the Fisk Jubilee Singers were bringing their own Nashville-made sound to an international audience. Fisk University’s student choral ensemble was founded in 1871 and within two years had brought its spirituals to the world, touring Europe and singing for President Ulysses S. Grant and Queen Victoria. Today, the group is among the city’s most esteemed cultural institutions.

“I think it’s good for Nashville to have such a wonderful building,” Musical Director and Curb-Beaman Chair Paul T. Kwami said of the Music City Center appearance. “For the opening event, it’s an honor to have the Fisk Jubilee Singers to perform there.”
Adding to the excitement: Though the student group has been a fixture for nearly 150 years, its ranks, of course, are constantly evolving.

“We have very special students who are always highly committed, so every year, I look forward to working with them. It always pays off when we put in the hard work,” Kwami said.

Some of the members of the 11-member group, The Time Jumpers at the Grammy Nominee Party in Nashville. (photo: Larry McCormack/The Tennessean)

The Time Jumpers: Judging by the sizes of their weekly audiences, awards and accolades appointed in The Time Jumpers’ direction, Western Swing — a sophisticated, jazz-informed country style first popularized in the 1930s and ’40s — is one of the hottest sounds in town.

The 11-member team of first-class studio musicians and artists in their own right has been a Nashville fixture for 15 years, and things keep getting bigger and better for the group.
Last year, audience demand spurred the members to move their Monday night shows from The Station Inn to the more spacious 3rd & Lindsley. Their 2012 album earned the group two Grammy nominations, and was recorded at the home studio owned by one of their newer members: Vince Gill. The Country Music Hall of Famer will be on hand with the rest of the Time Jumpers on Monday to welcome the Music City Center to the block.

Ten Out of Tenn:Trent Dabbs is currently in research mode, planning to eventually assemble a new “volume” of artists for Nashville’s ever-evolving Ten Out of Tenn singer-songwriter supergroup. But these days, the process is anything but simple, thanks to Nashville’s expanding talent pool.

“The hard thing is, there’s so much,” Dabbs says. “It could be 100 out of Tenn, with the different scenes of the city.”

Trent Dabbs

As Music City’s non-country scene has come a long way, so have the solo artists and songsmiths that have been part of Ten Out of Tenn since its founding in 2005. Among its most high-profile alums are Ashley Monroe (Pistol Annies), Joy Williams (The Civil Wars) and pop phenom Mikky Ekko. Dabbs has fared well, too, most recently seeing two of his songs get ABC’s “Nashville” treatment.

“When you live here, you get to see literally, like, the first step of ‘Behind the Music,’ or something,” Dabbs says. “And everybody else thinks that these people came out of nowhere, but yet they’ve been doing this here to be equipped to go to other places. There’s certain artists that you see, you just know that something magical is ahead.”

Mikky Ekko: While prominent Music City residents from the Black Keys to Kelly Clarkson were visibly racking up awards on Grammy night in February, another lesser-known Nashvillian was having one of the biggest nights of his career. Mikky Ekko — who has traveled the world in recent years but claims Nashville as a home base — is the male counterpart you hear duetting with Rihanna on her latest smash, “Stay.”

Mikky Ekko (photo: Rory White).

Ekko co-wrote the song and performed it with the superstar on stage at the Grammys, in a deserved but possibly surreal moment for those who remember him as a promising experimental pop artist making the rounds in Nashville’s rock clubs a few years back. We’re still piecing together how Ekko got from A to B (and he’s putting interviews on hold until an album is ready to be announced), but can’t wait to see where he heads from here.

The Nashville Symphony: The future continues to look bright for the Grammy Award-winning Nashville Symphony, which will get to break in the Music City Center’s Grand Ballroom during the open house on Sunday afternoon.

The Symphony’s 2013-14 concert season sees the Symphony teaming with the likes of Ben Folds, Kenny Loggins, Roberta Flack and Chicago, while also tackling works ranging from Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, Copland’s “Billy the Kid” and the Beatles’ classic catalog.

The Nashville Symphony. (Photo: Tom Stanford / file / The Tennessean)

If You Go

What: Live Music on the Plaza at the Music City Center with Phil Vassar and Ten Out of Tenn; Nashville Symphony performing in the GrandBallroomWhen: 3-7 p.m. Sunday . May 19Where: Music City Center, 201 Fifth Ave. S.Admission: free

Sara Evans is set to launch the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage at CMA Music Festival, which is set for June 6-9 in downtown Nashville. Evans will play at 10 a.m. June 6.

The Chevrolet Riverfront Stage operates daily and is free and open to the public.

Sara Evans

“Sara is the perfect choice to launch the daily concerts on the Chevrolet Riverfront Stage because of her great repertoire of hit music and undeniable connection to our fans,” said Steve Moore, CMA Chief Executive Officer.

Tickets to CMA Festival’s nightly shows at LP Field are sold out, but tickets are still available for Fan Fair X at Music City Center. Admission to that event is $10 a day or $25 for four days at www.ticketmaster.com. Children 12 and under will be admitted free of charge.

Big Kenny Alphin and Phil Vassar are among the stars who'll help send some young Nashville athletes to the World Championship of Peewee Hockey.

The Nashville Junior Predators U12 Elite team has been invited to the Quebec International Tournament, which takes place in February at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec, Canada. The team will be making their first appearance at the tournament, where they'll square off against some 120 teams from around the globe.

To help fund the trip, Alphin and Vassar along with country crew Sawyer Brown and musical comedy duo Williams and Ree will perform at a benefit concert and dinner in Nashville on October 17.

$30 tickets are available and include admission to the show and a cash bar, and a limited number of VIP tickets ($300) also includes a sit-down dinner. The benefit is open to the public, but is being held at a private residence. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 866-802-6418 or email april@countrythunder.com

The thermometer outside may read 95 degrees, but Charlie Daniels is already planning for Christmas.

On Wednesday, Daniels announced details on the 11th anniversary of The Charlie Daniels Band & Friends Concert to benefit Christmas 4 Kids. The event will be Nov. 19 at Ryman Auditorium and also will feature Phil Vassar and Thompson Square, with more talent to be added in the coming weeks.

Daniels’ fan club members can get tickets to the show starting Sept. 15 with the official on-sale date set for Sept. 29.

The mom of two young boys, Jo Dee Messina didn't look like an exhausted caregiver when she took Riverfront Stage at CMA Music Festival on Friday afternoon — but she sang about being one. She also offered a heartfelt moment and an entertaining set.

Messina had a pep of a young rocker as she sprang across stage letting out sporadic laughs in the middle of lyrics and clearly enjoying her performance.

After opening with "My Give a Damn's Busted" and following it up with "Heads Carolina, Tails California" she sang "I'm Alright," a song Phil Vassar, who wrote the song, performed on that stage earlier that morning.

"Now you get to hear a chick sing it," Messina joked.

Then Messina got serious for a moment, telling the story of a 6-year-old boy who goes to school with her 3-year-old. The boy hit head-first into a brick mailbox, she said, while riding his bike and is awaiting surgery at Vanderbilt. She got out her iPhone and asked the audience to participate in a video where they said hi to the boy and then applauded. After she was done filming, she said, "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. No other kid in the whole world is going to get something like that."

Then, raising the energy a little but keeping on the topic of kids, Messina told a story of the exhaustion that comes from being a new mom.

When her younger son was 5 weeks old, Messina caught a bad virus (insert dramatic cough into the microphone here). She was exhausted and "sick as a dog," when her son started crying at 4 a.m. (insert iPhone recording of baby crying, which Messina plays into the microphone here).

If your baby's crying and you are a woman, Messina says, your legs automatically start to move. Not so, she says, with her husband, who is "dead asleep" in the bed next to her. (Insert Messina's rendition of husband's snores here.)

So, with a couple choice words to her husband, she gets up to take care of her son. Then she writes a song.

It was that song, which is called "A Woman's Rant" that she played next. “I'm everything to everyone, my head is in a spin,” the lyrics say. They also include the catchy refrain, "I'm gonna have a come to Jesus, you can guarantee. When I walk through those pearly gates, I'm gonna have a talk with Eve."

Messina finished the set with two more songs. One, which addressed how the music industry responded to her after having her second kid by telling her she should take a break, says, "I'm a little out of breath, but baby I'm not dead yet." The final song was her cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing."